National Instruments AT E Series Introduction

©NationalInstruments Corporation 1-1 ATE Series User Manual

Introduction

This chapter describes the AT E Series devices, listsw hat you need to

get started, describes the optional software and optional equipment, and

explains how to unpack the AT E Series device.

Thankyou for buying an NI AT E Seriesdevice. The AT E Seriesdevices

are the first completely Plug and Play-compatible multifunction analog,

digital, and timing I/O devices for the PC AT and compatible computers.

This family of devices features 12-bit and 16-bit ADCs with 16 and 64

analog inputs, 12-bit and 16-bit DACs with voltage outputs, eight and

32 lines of TTL-compatible DIO, and two 24-bit counter/timers for TIO.

Because the ATE Series devices have no DIP switches, jumpers, or

potentiometers,they are easily configured and calibrated using software.

TheAT E Series devices are the first completely switchless and jumperless

data acquisition (DAQ)devices. This feature is made possible by the

NationalInstruments DAQ-PnP bus interface chip that connects the device

to the ATI/O bus. The DAQ-PnP implements the Plug and Play ISA

Specificationso that the DMA, interrupts, and base I/O addresses are all

softwareconfigurable. This allows you to easily change the AT E Series

deviceconfiguration without having to remove the device from the

computer.The DAQ-STC makes possible such applications as buffered

pulse generation, equivalenttime sampling, and seamlessl ych anging the

sampling rate.

The ATE Series devices use the National Instruments DAQ-STCsystem

timing controller for time-related functions. The DAQ-STCcons istso f

threetiming groups that control AI, AO, and general-purpose counter/timer

functions. These groups include a total of seven 24-bit and three 16-bit

counters and a maximum timing resolution of 50 ns.

A commonp roblem with DAQdevices is that you cannot easily

synchronizeseveral measurement functions to a common trigger or timing

event.The AT E Series devices have the Real-Time System Integration

(RTSI)bus to solve this problem. The RTSI bus consists of the RTSI bus